Perform forest, rangeland, and watershed restoration services including activities on national forest system lands to treat insect and disease infected trees; activities to reduce hazardous fuels; and…

The Department of Agriculture Forest Service R3-Southwestern Region awarded a Cooperative Agreement totaling $430,971.54 to the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management on July 22, 2026, under the Good Neighbor Authority program (CFDA 10.691) to perform forest and rangeland restoration services on National Forest System lands in Arizona through June 30, 2031.

The recipient will treat 1,684 acres of hazardous fuels and produce 12,767 hundred cubic feet of timber to meet the Forest Restoration Initiative fiscal year 2026 target. Work includes hand thinning on 384 acres and mechanical thinning on 1,300 acres to reduce wildfire risk, improve forest health, treat insect and disease-infected trees, and restore wildlife habitat. The federal funding covers the entire cost of hand thinning fuels reduction; the Forest Service will bear no cost for the mechanical thinning work. The Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management will award and administer the work, leveraging non-federal capacity and efficiencies for commercial timber removal. Generated timber revenue will be reinvested into land management goals. The agreement enables the state agency to conduct restoration services across jurisdictional boundaries, increasing the pace and scale of restoration on federal lands.

Perform forest, rangeland, and watershed restoration services including activities on national forest system lands to treat insect and disease infected trees; activities to reduce hazardous fuels; and any other activities to restore or improve forest, rangeland, and watershed health, including fish, and wildlife habitat. The goals are to treat 1,684 acres of hazardous fuels and produce 12,767 hundred cubic feet of timber for the four forest restoration initiative fiscal year 2026 target. 384 acres of this will be hand thinning, and 1,300 acres will be mechanical thinning. The agreement will allow our partner to award and administer the work, bringing non-federal capacity and efficiencies for commercial timber removal. This project includes timber production and removing hazardous fuels with dense vegetation to reduce wildfire risk to private inholding and improve forest health conditions for future timber production. Local external research has shown that a dollar of fuels reduction in northern arizona provides a seven-dollar return on investment compared to suppression and post fire flood costs of large wildfires. Funds will be used to complete all portions of the hand thinning fuels reduction. There is no cost to the government for the 1,300 acres of mechanical thinning.